Space vehicle directing apparatus



July 12, 1966 R. D. ORMSBY 3,

SPACE VEHICLE DIRECTING APPARATUS Filed June 17. 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1VARIABLE VOLT E SOUR AND COUPLED FARADMETER INVENTOR. FIG RALPH D.ORMSBY ATTORNEY July 12, 1966 R. D. ORMSBY 3,260,475

SPACE VEHICLE DIRECTING APPARATUS Filed June 17, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2ALTERNATING CURRENT SOURCE FIG. 2

INVENTOR. RALPH D. ORMSBY ATTORNEY July 12, 1966 R. D. ORMSBY 3,260,475

SPACE VEHICLE DIRECTING APPARATUS Filed June 17, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 5INVENTOR. FIG. 3 RALPH D. ORMSBY kmw/n ATTORNEY July 12, 1966 R. D.ORMSBY 3,260,475

SPACE VEHICLE DIRECTING APPARATUS Filed June 17. 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 4FIG. 4

INVENTOR. RALPH D. ORMSBY BY I @w ATTORNEY United States Patent3,269,475 EI ACE VEHICLE DIRECTING APPARATUS Ralph D. @rinsby, AnnArbor, Mich, assignor to The Bendix Corporation, Ann Arbor, Mich, acorporation of Delaware Filed June 17, 1960, Ser. No. 36,774 12 Claims.(till. 2441) This invention pertains to a space vehicle directingapparatus of the type where a torque is applied to an inertia membersuspended in the vehicle whereby an equal and opposite reaction torquetends to turn the vehicle in space.

An object of this invention is to suspend a spherical rotor by means ofhigh electric fields and then to apply magnetic fields to induce acurrent in the rotor, causing a torque on the rotor whereby an equal andopposite reaction torque is applied to the space vehicle. Suspension ofthe rotor with electric fields eliminates need for close tolerancebearings and minimizes friction; using a spherical rotor reduces thenumber of inertia members to one.

This and other objects and advantages will become more apparent when apreferred embodiment of this invention is considered in connection withthe drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of an assembled apparatus for producing theelectric and magnetic fields to suspend and turn a rotor within;

FIGURE 2 is a section taken through 22 of FIG- URE 1 with the rotaryball removed showing electric field plates and magnetic field windings;

FIGURE 3 is a view in perspective of the device shown in FIGURE 1 withone of the eight outer sections being removed.

FIGURE 4 is a schematic diagram showing one series resonant circuit; and

FIGURE 5 is a schematic diagram showing four series resonant circuits.

A preferred embodiment of this invention will now be described with theaid of FIGURES l-3 in the drawings. In the plan view of FIGURE 1 thereare visible four sections, 29, 21, 22 and 23, bolted together alongtheir inner faces. Likewise, there are four sections, 24, 25, 26, 2'7,visible in FIGURES 2 and 3, beneath sections 2-23 and bolted theretoalong their common faces to form a housing 23 for a rotor therein, whichin this embodiment, is a hollow stainless steel ball 29 but may, ofcourse, be solid and/or consist of other materials. Sections 27 are thenfastened to the vehicle frame, not shown.

Attached to each of the eight sections 2il27 are plates to which a highvoltage is applied. Plates 30, 31, 34 and 37 are shown in FIGURE 2 andare attached to sections 20, 21, 24- and 25, respectively. Similarplates are attached to sections 22, 23, 26, and 27. Each plate is in theshape of a spherical triangle so that it conforms to the surface of ball29. Also, each plate is connected to a high voltage terminal whichextends through and is supported by its corresponding section to a highvoltage source 39. High voltage terminals 40, 41, 42 and 43, which areattached, respectively, to sections 20, 21, 22 and 23, are shown inFIGURE 1, and terminals 45 and 46, which are attached, respectively, tosections and 26, are shown in FIGURE 3. A high voltage from source 39 ofalternately opposite polarities is applied to the terminals so that inFIGURE 1 terminals 40 and 42 would have a negative polarity appliedthereto and terminals 41, 43 would have a positive polarity appliedthereto.

The high voltage plates, such as plates 30, 31, 34 and 37, are closelyspaced to the rotor and induce a polarity opposite to the polarityapplied to the particular plate, causing an attractive forcetherebetween. The spacing in one embodiment is .010 inch. Since thereare eight high voltage plates symmetrically placed about the rotor,proper control of the voltages will permit the rotor to be suspendedtherebetween and free to rotate in any direction with no mechanicalfriction. This is accomplished without the use of hearings to not onlysimplify construction and reduce the need for very close tolerances butalso to eliminate mechanical friction. The fields required to suspendsuch a ball would be very small in space since gravity is a smallfactor.

It is desirable to keep the ball 29 centered between the plates evenduring vehicle acceleration or deceleration. This can be done byproviding in source 39 means for measuring the capacitance between eachplate and the rotor 29 and adjusting the voltage to that plate,accordingly. For example, if the ball came too close to plate 31, thecapacitance between it and the ball 29 would increase thereby decreasingthe voltage to the plate 31 and attraction between plate 31 and ball 29.At the same time the ball 29 moves toward plate 31, it will be movingaway from the plate diametrically opposite plate 31 decreasing thecapacitance, increasing the voltage and attractive force between ball 29and the diametrically opposite plate. Thus, there are changed forcesbetween two plates and the ball 29 which tend to restore it to a centralposition.

A second way of maintaining ball 29 centered will be explained inconnection with FIGURE 4. Only two plates 31, 32 are shown for the sakeof simplicity but it is to be understood that there are three otherpairs of plates connected in this manner. An alternating voltage source47 is connected in series with resistance 48 and inductance 49 which isconnected to plate 31, with plate 32 being connected to the other sideof generator 47. The capacitance between plates 31, 32 and ball 29completes the series resonant circuit. The frequency from source 47 ishigher than the resonant frequency when ball 29 is centered. However,when the ball 29 goes ofi center, the capacitance in the series resonantcircuit changes thereby changing the voltage at plates 31, 32 Movementof ball 29 towards plates 31, 32 will decrease the voltage at plates andmovement away will increase the voltage.

In a suspension system having eight plates, each of four series resonantcircuits are connected to two plates in the manner shown in FIGURE 5.Circuits 52 and 54 are each connected to adjacent plates covering thetop hemisphere of ball 29 and circuits 56, 58 are each connected toadjacent plates covering the bottom hemisphere of ball 29. It should benoted that the circuits 52 and 54 each are connected to a pair of platescovering one half of the upper hemisphere and circuits 56 and 58 eachare connected to a pair of plates covering one half of the lowerhemisphere. The hemisphere halves covered by plate pairs of the lowerhemisphere are rotated about the vertical axis relative theircounterparts in the upper hemisphere. In this manner, three dimensionalstability is possible. Six, eight, ten, or higher, even numbers ofplates may be used to cover each hemisphere of ball 29 with resonantcircuits each being connected to adjacent plates or otherwise connectedfor desirable results.

Ball 29 may also be suspended magnetically where magnetic fields areapplied to magnet pole faces arranged around a magnetic ball. Also,suspension may be accomplished by using a pressurized air bearingbetween rotor and housing. In addition it is believed that the magneticfield provided by the stators to rotate the ball.

as will be discussed, can also be used to suspend the ball.

An opening 50 is formed at the center of each side of housing 28 to makesix openings in all, one on each side. A terminal plug 51 is insertedthrough each opening 50. The plugs 51 are bolted to plates 52 which inturn are bolted to the corresponding sections which they abut. Two ofthe terminals are removed in the view of FIG- URE 3 to clearly showopenings 50.

Fixed to the interior of housing 28 are six stator coil windings, eachof which has an are slightly less than a semicircle. Windings 54, 55,S6, 57 and 58 are shown in FIGURE 2. The stator windings are in threemutually perpendicular planes with the point of intersection of saidplanes coinciding with the center of ball 29 when suspended. Forexample, windings 54 and 55 lie in one plane, windings 56 and 57 lie ina second plane perpendicular to the first plane, and winding 58 and itscomplementary winding, not shown, lie in a third plane perpendicular tothe first two planes. The stator windings preferably lie in the samespherical plane as, and are located between, the eight high voltageplates, and the ends of each winding in one perpendicular plane abut thecenter portion of the windings in a second perpendicular plane and inturn have their center portions abutted by the ends of windings in thethird perpendicular plane.

Each winding has conductive wires interwound in a core of magneticmaterial with the wires being connected to a cor-responding terminalplug 51. A polyphase alternating current source 60 is applied to plugs51 with the phase of the signal applied to the individual plugs 51varying in accordance with the desired direction of rotaticn of ball 29.When an alternating polyphase signal is applied to terminals 51, acurrent is induced in sphere 29 in a manner similar to the currentinduction in the well known induction motor. The induced currents reactwith the changing magnetic field to provide a torque to turn the ball29. By controlling the signals to terminals 51 of the proper statorwindings, torque may be applied to ball 29 in any desired direction andmagnitude and an equal and opposite torque will be applied to the statorwindings, and to the space vehicle, to turn the space vehicle in thedesired direction. Therefore, by applying torque to a single member,that being ball 29, and direction of flight may be obtained for a spacevehicle. This improves over systems using a separate member, such as areaction wheel, for each of the three dimensions to control spacevehicle direction.

Operation The operation of this embodiment will be briefly described.The housing 28, composed of identical sections 20-27, is fixed to aspace vehicle frame. A ball 29 of conductive material is suspended inhousing 28 by means of a high voltage applied to terminals formed ineach of the sections 204.7 as terminals 41, 45, 46 and 43 shown inFIGURE 3. Each high voltage terminal is fixed to a plate in the form ofa spherical triangle with plates 30, 3d, 34, 37 being shown in FIGURE 2,and with each of the plates conforming to the surface of the ball andclosely spaced thereto. By applying voltages of alternate polarity tothe high voltage terminals, such as terminals 4-0, 41, 4 2, 43, etc., acharge is induced on the surface of ball 29 which is equal and oppositeto the charge on the plates 30, 31, 34, 37 etc. This causes a mutualattraction in a plurality of areas on the ball 29 and suspends the ballbetween these attractions. This provides an frictionless, bearing freeconstruction. The ball 29 is maintained in a centered position byvarying the voltage to the respective plates according to thecapacitance change between the plates and the ball 29.

Means to turn the suspended ball 29 are in the form of a plurality ofsubstantially semicircular stator coil windings S4, 55, 56, etc., whichare fixed to housing 28 and placed about sphere 29 in three mutuallyperpendicular planes. Each winding 54, 55, etc. is then connected to acorresponding terminal 51 to which is applied a polyphase alternatingvoltage. Application of an alternating signal to terminals 5 1 willcause a varying magnetic field about the coil windings, inducing acurrent in rotor 29, to turn the rotor corresponding to the strength ofsignals applied to terminals 51 in much the same manner as the rotor ofan induction motor is caused to turn. Since the windings are in threemutually perpendicular planes, any direction of rotational torque can beimparted to the ball. This will cause an equal and opposite rotationaltorque on the housing 28 and the attached space vehicle to turn thevehicle in any direction with only one revolving member, that being ball29.

Although this invention has been disclosed and illustrated withreference to particular application, the principles involved aresusceptible of numerous other applications which will be apparent topersons skilled in the art. The invention is, therefore, to be limitedonly as indicated by the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

ll. Apparatus for direction control of a vehicle comprising electricallyconductive unitary rotor means, means for suspending said unitary rotormeans for rotation in more than one plane, winding means to rotate saidunitary rotor means in more than one plane being placed adjacent saidunitary rotor means, means to supply an alternating current to saidwinding means to induce a current in said unitary rotor means to imparta torque to said unitary rotor means, one of said winding means andunitary rotor means being connected to the vehicle frame so that anequal and opposite torque is applied to said vehicle to control theattiude of said vehicle.

2. Apparatus for direction control of a vehicle comprising anelectrically conductive spherical rotor, means for suspending said rotorfor rotation in more than one plane, winding means to rotate said rotormeans in more than one plane being placed closely adjacent said rotorsurface and lying in three mutually perpendicular planes which intersectat the center of said suspended rotor, means to apply alternatingcurrent to said winding means in each plane according to the desiredrotation of said rotor, said winding means being fixed to the frame ofsaid vehicle, said rotor being suspended relative to said vehicle sothat any torque existing between said winding means and rotor will tendto control the attitude of said vehicle.

3. Apparatus for direction control of a vehicle comprising anelectrically conductive rotor, a variable power source, rotor suspensionmeans conforming to at least a portion of the surface or" said rotor andbeing connected to said variable power source to suspend said rotor,means connected to said variable power means to sense the relativeposition of said rotor and said suspension means varying said powermeans to maintain said rotor in a predetermined position relative saidsuspension means, Winding means placed adjacent said rotor, means tosupply an alternating current to said winding means to induce a currentin said rotor to cause said rotor to turn, said winding means beingconnected to the vehicle frame so that an equal and opposite torque isapplied to said vehicle to control the attitude of said vehicle.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said variable power source is avariable voltage source, said sensing means measuring the capacitancebetween said rotor and said portions to vary the voltage to saidportions in proportion to the capacitance changes.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said rotor is spherical and saidportions comprise eight spherical equilateral conductive triangles eachapproximately equal in area to one-eighth of the total surface area ofsaid spherical rotor.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 with said winding means being placed closelyadjacent said rotor surface and lying in three mutually perpendicularplanes which intersect at the center of said rotor when suspended.

7. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said alternating current ispolyphase.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein in each of said mutuallyperpendicular planes are two substantial-1y semicircular windings on amagnetic core, the ends of the semicircular windings in one plane facingthe center portions of the semicircular windings in a second plane, thesemicircular windings in said one plane being faced by the ends of thesemicircular windings in the third plane, each of said semicircularwindings being connected to said alternating current supply means.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means for suspending said rotormeans comprises a voltage source, a plurality of conductive membersbeing adjacent said rotor, resonant circuit means being connectedbetween said voltage source and said members, said voltage source beingof a frequency higher than the resonant frequency of said circuit sothat as the capacitance between the rotor and said conductive membersincreases, the voltage to said portion will increase.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said means for suspending saidrotor means comprises a voltage source, a plurality of conductivemembers being adjacent said rotor, resonant circuit means beingconnected between said voltage source and said members so that as thecapacitance between the rotor and said conductive members increases, thevoltage to said portion will increase.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 with said resonant circuit means and saidpower means comprising a plurality of circuits each having aninductance, a resistance and voltage source, each of said circuits beingconnected to a pair of said members.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein there are four of said membersplaced about each hemisphere of said rotor means with each pair ofconnected members covering substantially one half of a hemisphere, theconnection between members in each pair covering one half of onehemisphere of the rotor means being rotated about an axis perpendicularto the said hemisphere relative the connection between members coveringthe other half of the hemisphere of said rotor means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,316,915 4/1943Truman 735.17 2,785,573 3/1957 Bentley 74-5 2,857,122 10/1958 Magui're233-79 2,932,752 4/1960 Jones et al. 310-166 3,003,356 10/ 1961Nordsieck 74--5 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,062,965 8/ 1959 Germany.

FERGUS S. MIDDLETON, Primary Examiner. MILTON BUCHLER, Examiner.

1. APPARATUS FOR DIRECTION CONTROL OF A VEHICLE COMPRISING ELECTRICALLYCONDUCTIVE UNITARY ROTOR MEANS, MEANS FOR SUSPENDING SAID UNITARY ROTORMEANS FOR ROTATION IN MORE THAN ONE PLANE, WINDING MEANS TO ROTATE SAIDUNITARY ROTOR MEANS IN MORE THAN ONE PLANE BEING PLACED ADJACENT SAIDUNITARY ROTOR MEANS, MEANS TO SUPPLY AN ALTERNATING CURRENT TO SAIDWINDING MEANS TO INDUCE A CURRENT IN SAID UNITARY ROTOR MEANS TO IMPARTA TORQUE TO SAID UNITARY ROTOR MEANS, ONE OF SAID WINDING MEANS ANDUNITARY ROTOR MEANS BEING CONNECTED TO THE VEHICLE FRAME SO THAT ANEQUAL AND OPPOSITE TORQUE IS APPLIED TO SAID VEHICLE TO CONTROL THEATTITUDE OF SAID VEHICLE.